Xenophon: 'the only risk... is embarrassing the Malaysian government'

The independent senator, Nick Xenophon, is ''very relieved'' to be back in Australia after being detained in and deported from Malaysia, where he was deemed to be a ''security threat''.

The South Australian senator said he understood the deportation order had come from the ''highest levels'' of the Malaysian government and that it related to his support for pro- democracy forces in the country.

''If the Malaysian government thought that they were doing the smart thing, I think it spectacularly backfired on them,'' he told reporters on Sunday.

Senator Xenophon was detained after arriving at Kuala Lumpur airport on Saturday. He was visiting the country with a delegation of Australian MPs, including Liberal MP Mal Washer and Labor MP Steve Georganas, who have since cancelled their trip.

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A long-time advocate for fair elections in Malaysia, Senator Xenophon was making his fifth visit to the country since 2010. The group was due to meet the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, Mohammed Nazri, and a coalition campaigning for fair elections.

Senator Xenophon, who paid for his trip, is now on a watch list for an indefinite period but is seeking legal advice to have the ban lifted. ''I don't know how many years or decades it will be before I am allowed to set foot on Malaysian soil,'' he said.

Senator Xenophon is also pursuing legal action against pro-government newspapers that last year published a 2009 speech he gave criticising the Church of Scientology - replacing the word ''Scientology'' with ''Islam''.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, said he had rung his Malaysian counterpart, Anifah Aman, to express his disappointment. Senator Carr said the Malaysian foreign minister took a ''strong objection'' to foreigners interfering in the country's election campaign.

Both men agreed their nations' relationship would not suffer as a result of the incident, he said.